
No items viewed yet.
Probably because I never got any. Just like us humans, our boobs are vulnerable. BARE-ing their truth can be daunting. I wanted to celebrate all kinds of boobs and help girls of all ages open up about what they go through. Boobs can be so taboo. This project was about breaking that silence.
Titillations. Celebrations. Devastations.
They come in all shapes and sizes. From budding to sagging. Through sickness and health.
A boob story is about more than breasts. It is about identity. Shame. Pride. Illness. Motherhood. Aging. Confidence. Loss.
This project is our way of saying the things we think but feel we cannot say.
A way for all of us to be seen. To laugh. To cry.
To come closer together.
As a flat-chested 13-year-old, I’d spy with one eye open at the “specimens” around me. There were a few gorgeous pairs, but mostly, they were just unadorned, funny, bouncy breasts out for a day in the sun. Ladies of all ages, strutting with confidence, looking like they didn’t have a care in the world.
That early exposure normalized bodies. It softened judgment. It taught me that confidence has very little to do with cup size.
"I am from Russia Georgia. I am an ultrasound technologist so I am related to so many boob stories. Me, I got pregnant when I was 17 and then I got married but I was like flat, no boobs at all. Suddenly when I got pregnant, they start growing and growing and growing and they became like triple D's. I just graduated from high school, and all my friends came to meet my daughter. She started crying so I pulled my boobs out to feed her. Everybody started starring, they all had big ones but suddenly they saw me, the flat one, with these humongous boobies out. “What happened?” they asked. In Russia, nobody was really educated and we didn’t know why this was happening. I was so happy because suddenly I had big big ones and I had so much milk with my first pregnancy, I even helped my neighbor feed her kid. I miss this period very much. The smell from the kids when they smell like the milk. It was a big excitement and for my husband too. He was enjoying."
55-64 years old
"Bob and Rachel. These are the names of my boobs. Left is Bob. Right is Rachel. I figured I needed to have a relationship with these new-found things growing on my chest…so I named them. My favorite name was Bob. And Rachel sounded good with Bob."
13-17 years old
"Bob and Rachel. These are the names of my boobs. Left is Bob. Right is Rachel. I figured I needed to have a relationship with these new-found things growing on my chest…so I named them. My favorite name was Bob. And Rachel sounded good with Bob."
Designation
"I’m in a utility closet, on a break from rehearsing a new Broadway musical, pumping my quickly expanding boobs. They feel hot and tight and they are easily twice, almost three times the size they once were. I’m on a union regulated 10 minute break and am scrambling to quickly attach all the parts to my volcanic tits. I can’t help but feel like Bessie the cow. I’m simultaneously trying to cram music in my head on this break, so I set the tempo of the pump and start practicing my music to the rhythm of the perfectly pulsing breast pump. The door to the closet flings open, and there before me, staring at my huge knockers, is my agent...who so casually says “Darling, I need you to sign this contract."
Actress
"I stare at my reflection in the waist-long bathroom mirror, one hand cupping each ample breast, and then I squeeze them like two cantaloupes in the produce aisle. They’re definitely tender. I poke and prod some more. It’s early yet, only day 23 of my cycle, but I have a feeling. A woman’s instinct. After all, this will make a full year of trying. Lucky number twelve, I say aloud, even though I’m alone. I never imagined that luck would have anything to do with it or that getting pregnant would take time. The first four months of negative tests confused me. I even put in a desperate call to EPT’s help line and interrogated the custom service rep with questions like, If I drank a lot of water before testing, could that have diluted my urine and triggered a false negative? The answer was no. Everyone keeps telling me to just relax and that it will happen eventually. I’m not a fan of eventually. I prefer right now. There’s a hollowness inside of me, waiting to be occupied by life."
Author
It started with a tongue-in-cheek poem.
My two friends, a writer and an illustrator, and I wrote Ready, Set, Grow! The Awakening of Your Inner Supertiddies.
We thought people would laugh.
They did. But they also shared.
We realized there was an ocean of personal stories waiting to be told. So we shifted gears. The project became part illustrated poem, part short-story collection. A space for honesty wrapped in humor.
Just remember you’re in control! When everything eats at your soul and you don’t feel whole, all it means is you’re ready for some digging and growing. There’s a place, beyond your mind and body, where you’ll find clarity, for deep inside of you, is the real YOU.
Stephanie Szostak
Debbie Lelievre
Natalie Wall
© STEPHANIE SZOSTAK 2026 | Designed by RE-TOOL®